ITALIAN NAZIS ATTACK AGAIN

This is a photo of Victor and Elena when they met with Everyonegroup members - Victor and Elena are seated on the left. Surprise you, does it? They look like ordinary people.
(photo taken by Steed Gamero Campos)

You doubt the existence of racism in Italy? Read on, and this is being written just 4 days after the incident happened – not Dickens’s 19th century London, but July 30th 2008.
But first, I will take a step back to August 10th last year, when 4 children, (Eva, Menjii, Danchiu and Lenuca Carolea), died in a fire in Italy. Yes, they were Roma, and their parents were arrested for abandoning them, having chased after some racists. When they came back to their place, it was ablaze and the 4 children died. A petrol bomb had been used to murder them – remains of molten glass were found in the debris – no ordinary fire can melt glass.
Victor, and his wife Elena, (parents of Lenuca), have been attacked again – last Saturday. Their makeshift home below the Citadella bridge in Pisa was destroyed by fire along with all their possessions – the fire almost certainly a direct result of more racist attacks.
They spent that night sleeping in a local park – until the police “took” them to the station and put them on a train to Livorno, where they were once again caught by police and shipped back to Pisa, where they are still wandering the streets homeless. There was no offer of assistance or help following their loss on Saturday, and no doubt the racist gangs responsible for both fires will keep trying – such blind prejudice and hatred does not fade, but grows stronger with each successful attack - grows stronger while the general population pretend none if this is happening, or choose to ignore it as not being their problem.
I said yesterday it is time for decent Italians to prove to the rest of Europe and the world they ARE NOT racist neo-Nazis – prove they are a people worthy of EU citizenship and NOT the lowest form if life on earth as they seek to racially cleanse the country.
We have an expression in English - tarred with the same brush. Well, if you decent Italians sit by and watch this happen again and again without doing anything then, yes, you deserve you be labelled neo-Nazi racists because of your apathy towards the plight of these people.
Also, the Italian government announces it is going to put 3.000 troops to patrol the streets to fight crime, although, having a suspicious nature. I suspect darker reasons for this move by the E.U.’s most primitive, racist country – or by its government anyway.
I have no words to describe the repulsion I feel towards many Italian politicians. It is easy to see how Mussolini so quickly aligned himself with Hitler – is it a national trait? Prove me wrong those Italians reading my blog – please.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE TREATED BETTER THAN THE ROMA, WHO ARE ITALIAN CITIZENS! WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT ITALY?
Don’t just read my blog, do what you can to support this proud and independent group called the Roma.

See ya

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS - CHINESE STYLE

The devious Chinese administration is up to its old games – surprise, surprise.
They agreed to journalists being free to report when they signed the contract for the 2008 Olympics.
Now?
What do you think? A top spokesman said Falun Gong sites would be blocked – yet another official stated other, unspecified sites, would be unavailable.
And the IOC? “We’ll look into it”. How many times in your life have you heard that one?
Many journalists are on-site already, and were blocked from Amnesty International’s site Tuesday when it published a report critical of China’s human rights record.
The one thing that surprises me is how China were given the games in the first place. I guess the Olympics are, after all, a political, rather than a sporting platform today. Money has always talked, and it spoke loud and clear when Beijing were awarded this quasi sporting event.
The concept of the games has long been forgotten, and we now have incidents such as a professional USA basketball team competing against amateurs – professional athletes being paid small fortunes by sports goods manufacturers set against some poor bugger who has spent everything he has just to buy training equipment and every spare minute when not working trying to train.
This is not to detract from the many men and women who have spent years, and their own money, preparing for it.
What would I do if I were an athlete taking part? So easy to talk when I can remain objective on the subject. Seriously. Yes, I would have to do one hel of a lot of soul searching; but feel sure that in the end I would decide against taking part.
Apart from anything else, there’s the pollution to think of, and that is not to make light of the BIG issue, a “sporting” event in a country that has trampled on human rights for far too long. Yes, there have been a few improvements; but to use a vulgar, if appropriate, expression, China has the West by the short and curlies. Governments may cry “foul” when talking about China’s human rights track record, but, when it comes down to it, business and trade are the name of the game.

A BLIND EYE

Just another little girl, only she’s treated as pariah in Italy. She’s 12 and her name is Rebecca Covaciu. Yes, she is Roma and has rights, the same as you and me. Only problem is her rights, (and the rights of all Roma), are being trampled on in Italy – a country that seems to have regressed to a past age– a country that seems to be unworthy right now of its EU membership.
I hope some of my readers are Italian, and some of you sympathetic to my blogs and the plight of the Roma people – if not, well either nobody’s reading it, or it’s too hot for anyone to care.
If, by chance, you are Italian and understand the current hysteria against the Roma, time to stand up and be counted – do you want to be accused of sitting by while this dust devil turns into a full-blown tornado?
And please don’t rely on Berlusconi and his Northern league, right-wing, cronies . They are using the so-called Roma problem to detract from other, more serious concerns. They are not alone either – TV news has major headlines covering 2 Roma caught stealing – shows how the media, like to jump on the Nazi-style band wagon. Of course, you must keep in mind the fact that the Belusconi family owns a large share of Italian commercial television, (45% audience share and over 60% of total advertising sales), and it’s fairly obvious they are going to dance to the tune of their main fiddler. Statistics show that 82% of Italians depend only on television for news, the highest percentage in the EU.
The Economist stated in 2002 that “Mr Berlusconi has yet to remove the ubiquitous conflicts between his private and public concerns. Because his companies are embroiled in almost every part of the economy, his failure to do so casts doubts on the motives behind so many of his projects, whatever their merits”. Plus ca change plus la meme chose.

So, what can you do?
If you’re Italian, make yourself heard both at local and EU level with your politicians, (sorry if your local politican is a member of “that” group).
Non-Italian? Write to your Euro M.P. if you’re European – if you’re not write to anyone you can think of. Support Everyone group as best you can – spread the word!
Becoming an activist doesn’t involve money – doesn’t mean travel costs etc. OK, if you have the money do it – I wish I did believe me. But I don’t – so I use the internet – my blog and e-mails to anyone I can find by doing a search. I may not be there with Roberto, Dario and Matteo; but they have my complete support as a member, and I’m proud to be a member too.
Everyonegroup IS non-political, and it does work hard to defend those who have no defence – have no voice. We should all have the same principles. It is so easy in our busy lives to forget the human rights abuses around us – turn a blind eye, or convince ourselves it is someone else’s problem.
IT’S NOT! It’s everyone’s problem, and the Roma, (as with many groups and individuals), have a right to be defended – a right to be heard.
For too long the Roma people have been lumped together with travellers and tinkers – they are a separate family, a different people. You want to know more? Then go here http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/patrin.htm

You can read about Rebecca there too. Remember her, remember all the Roma people – remember their suffering in the midst of what is supposed to be a civilised society.

See ya

3 KINDS OF LIE

Ever heard of extrapolation? Basically, it’s when you take some figures and project forward as happened with the Salk polio vaccine – only their extrapolation went wrong, and kids developed polio after having received the vaccine.
And extrapolating is exactly what the Italian anti-immigrant Northern League party's Sandro Mazzatorta did when he addressed Italy’s Senate.
His figures stated that, (and I quote), "Foreigners committed 60% of the attempted homicides, 60% of the robberies (and) 82% of the muggings,"
These figures are based on the city of Brescia.
Now Brescia has a population of 190,000 – Italy has a population of approximately 59.5 million!
Now by my calculations Brescia has a population equivalent to 0.032% of the total population of Italy. I guess the figures he quoted were supposed to be applied to the whole country – sure that was what he intended Senate members to think.
I did try to find the crime figures for Brescia, but not being able to read Italian, was unsuccessful. However, seems to me this particular statistic from our learned Senator Mazzatorta was designed to inflame sentiments rather than give a real idea. As the old saying goes, there are 3 kinds of lie – a lie, a damned lie, and statistics.
So now illegal immigrants will receive longer prison terms in Italy, (and I am not agreeing with illegal immigration believe me).
The church and left-wing politicians claim that this move may well encourage racism – occurs to me there is little need to encourage racism – it’s fairly rife, even amongst Italy’s political leadership.
I do believe, (or at least hope) that the majority of Italians are non-racist. Such group are called the silent majority here in England.
Well, it’s about time the silent majority in Italy stood up and made themselves heard – otherwise it’s a case of them being tarred with the same brush and end up being called primitive backward provincials.

Two little girls died last Saturday - just Roma, no problem. Pray to which ever god you worship that this trickle will not turn into a flood - the first witch-hunt of the 21st century right here in our own E.U. backyard.

If you doubt my word - connect to everyonegroup, ( a group of which I am proud to be a member), at the top right hand of this page - read the reports and search the news - see, then, if you can stand aside while a Roma pogrom grows in our midst.

See ya

ATAVISTIC NAPOLITANS

Yes, that is a man chatting on his mobile just metres from 2 teenage girls who drowned, and, yes, they are Roma. If by any chance you are from Naples and know him - please tell him how despised he is - and not just by me I am sure.
Hang your heads in shame, Naples sunbathers. I really wonder sometimes if some Italians belong in the 21st century – how long before they commence witch hunts to aid them in their seemingly unending determination to discriminate against the Roma people?
Yes, I know, there are many good Italians, and, if that sounds patronising it’s not meant to be.
BUT, the events of the 19th of this month when 2 out of 4 girls drowned in Naples while sunbathers looked onis disgusting and an insult to 21st century society. The bastards even kept right on sunbathing while the 2 bodies lay covered close to them! Others were seen catching the moments on their mobile phones and cams. Lifeguards did attempt to rescue all 4, but only 2 survived.
The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported it took 1.5 hours for police to arrive, authorities say because of bureaucracy complications, due to the fact that the girls were not Italian citizens but immigrants from Eastern Europe – explains everything, the girls being Roma too.
There has been outrage in Italy sure – especially from Everyonegroup, of which I am a member; but many others too.
However, it reflects very badly on Italy as a whole, especially when the government adopts racist policies too – unfortunately, the majority of the population are probably hoping someone else will do something.
Until that happens, Italy will be looked upon as being on the outskirts of civilisation in Europe – a country set apart because of its primitive, racist outlook on life. Very sad for the many who do not hold such views – but, in that case, they should get up off their arses and prove Italy is worthy of E.U. membership, worthy of being called a great nation. Right now, looking in from the outside, it sure looks like Italy’s sliding backwards towards the 1940’s and beyond.

They say a leopard never changes its spots - is it true of certain national characteristics too?

see ya

PLUS CA CHANGE ETC. ETC.

So our dear friend, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, has chosen to ignore EU criticism, (I hesitate to use the word condemnation, even if it was referred to as racial discrimination), of the Roma fingerprinting. Opposition leader, Walter Veltroni, called for an immediate end to Roma fingerprinting, not that Maroni gives a damn, because he now says the fingerprinting will continue.
Even better is the reason put forward by Belusconi, (our millionaire around whom there is a continual cloud of suspicion and doubt). He claims the fingerprinting was needed to ensure Roma children went to school and were integrated! Nice one Silvio – that has to be worthy of the BSOTY award, (Bull-shit of the year award), even for him.
I guess they also destroy Roma communities around Rome to encourage the kids to go to school and ensure integration - guess police beat up Roma to achieve the same ends.
Mention has been made of plans to fingerprint all Italians citizens and residents – I guess that’s being done to ensure they all go to school and feel integrated. It’s almost cosy enough to be a children’s bedtime story – who knows? They’ll all be living happily ever after next.
The EU has called on the European Commission to see if the move violated European law – I guess by that we can deduce that the European Union does not know its own laws.
But then, hasn’t discrimination been the Roma peoples' lot for a long, long time? Didn’t Hitler gas them? And wasn’t he just one in a long line of persecutors, (the current ones being Berlusconi and Maroni).Don’t people look suspiciously on them, just because their culture is different?
Yes, we do need to look at our own selves before we shout abuse at the Italian government – he difference is, they have power.
And so do you – lobby your Euro MP – send e-mails for goodness sake!!
How long do you spend on the internet each day just buggering about wasting time? It’s easier today than ever before to find addresses and send e-mails. If you use Outlook Express, demand a read receipt.
How many thousands, millions, sat by idly while the Nazis wiped out Jews, homosexuals, handicapped people and Roma? Has not reached that stage yet, but when governments can ignore a Union of which they are members, how long before we see the shadow of Mussolini fall across the landscape, and our consciences, yet again?
Get off your arse and do something – do a search and write to who ever you can think of – sign any petitions you can find.
See ya

JUSTICE FOR THE ROMA I HOPE

OK, I am harping back to the Roma people in Italy – not a problem that has gone away, especially for the Italian government.
!950 – that was the year the Council of Europe introduced the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms – partially in response the the UN charter on human rights introduced in 1948.
The Council of Europe IS NOT the European Union. ALL member of the EU are members of the Council, but not all members of the Council are EU members, (Iceland and the Russian federation are members of the Council).
If you search the Council of Europe site you will find many documents and utterances over Roma – 100’s, 1,000 of pages – and not much else, in spite of the recent persecution of the Roma, especially in Rome.
However, the European parliament, (as a result of pressure and representation from European Italian Radicals, the ALDE Group of the European Parliament and the EveryOne Group), have, at last, as of 12th of July this year have passed a resolution against the census and fingerprinting of Italian Roma people.
The resolution mentions the fact Roma have been the target of discrimination and racism in Italy and Hungary.
I would like to think it will work – like to think something constructive will happen. Only time will tell, but the workings and wheels of the EU, (as with the UN or any oversized distant organisation), grind slow.
You can read the full text at our web site – www.everyonegroup.com
The saying “The spirit’s willing but the flesh is weak” comes to mind. I guess it is hard for someone sitting in Strasbourg with his or her comfortable office, good salary and pleasant life to imagine how it must be for someone who thinks they are Italian,(who IS Italian AND an EU citizen), to be subject to such abuse by their own government.
If left alone to pursue their racist policies, what steps next for this EU member government? Surely action is needed now to prevent yet another European genocide. Maybe I am being a pessimist, but based on past events involving what is, in my opinion, one of the most corrupt governments in the EU, the future does not look good – unless the EU takes firm decisive action now before it is too late.
Take Sicily –as much as Sicilians like to think of themselves as first and foremost Sicilians, Italians second. January this year the president of the regional government of Sicily was found guilty of assisting the Mafia and sentenced to five years in prison (final decision by the courts could take years, with appeals). The judges said there was no wilful intent in his actions – draw your own conclusions if you want.
History is full of “If only we’d seen…..”. Maybe a reasonable argument in the past when news was spread by men on horseback or the telegraph. Today? No excuse at all.
The problem is politicians are mainly in it for their own ends, not ours. How do you know when a politician is lying? You can see his lips moving. (I KNOW!! Not all, but seems more than most in the Italian government).
See ya

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

This is only a preliminary blog because I want to make sure of some facts before I write.

I am not so naieve as to believe our government has not done shady deals with many personna non grata, (or countries non-grata).

But it is strange reading that China, (our atheist communist state so bent on obliterating Tibetan culture, and now about to be host to the most polluted Olympics the world has ever seen), is heavily into supporting the Sudanese government, ( a rigid Moslem state having Shariah law), a gang hell bent on wiping out another group in Dafur.

I know! Governments do it all the time for political and financial expediency; but the depth of their involvement goes way beyond those two items from what I have read so far.

Man really is the most dangerous species ever to populate this earth - it's just that some of us, (embarrassing, isn't it, aligning ourselves with fellow "human beings" like Bashir, Chairman Wen Jiabao and others like them), have a sense of what is right and wrong - shame it is only some.

Prosecutors at the International Court have accused Bashir of war crimes in Darfur. Jiabao? Unlikely anything will happen to him - too much business involved to risk losing it. Also explains why the USA cuddles up to China and condemns Cuba - What profits to be made really from cigars?

Or am I being cynical?

WIll be back with more in Sudan and China in the next few days

See ya

GAY DRIVING IN ITALY

If any of my readers doubt the almost retarded attitudes and beliefs of some Italian officials – if anyone doubts the ability of those officials to fly in the face of reason and throw caution to the wind, read on.
I have already talked about the almost Nazi-like handling of the Roma people, a subject covered extensively by my Everyone group family, and, (it would seem), handled about as effectively by the EU as Zimbabwe is handled by the U.N.
Once again, Italian government officials have proved their inability to act like 21st century citizens.
This time it involves a 26 year old man called Danilo Giuffrida of Catania, Sicily.
He told doctors during his medical for military service he was gay. They generously passed the information on to the Italian transport ministry, ,(why? DO NOT ask me because it's beyond the wildest imaginings of any reasonable man or woman), who dutifully told him to repeat his driving test or have his license revoked due to his "sexual identity disturbance"!
He repeated the test, passed, and was issued with a 1 year license instead of the usual 10 year one because of his being gay.
Fortunately, Italian judges have moved on from witch hunts and the horse and carriage, and awarded him damages of €100,000. The judge ruled that the Defence and Transport Ministries showed "evident sexual discrimination" against Mr Giuffrida.
Good on you judge!
It might be easier to comprehend if there was a link between being gay and bad driving, although there is no medical evidence to support this theory at all – any more than there is evidence to suggest gay people are out to turn the whole world gay.
An isolated incident such as this would not be so bad if it were not for the fact that Italian government departments continually show signs of living in the Dark Ages. I guess it is, to a certain extent, understandable given that Rome houses Vatican City – the mediaeval minds there obviously cast their nets wide.

LONG BREAK - I KNOW!!

Yes, OK I have not written anything for a long time I know; but I’m back again, and feel just as strongly as ever about human rights.
It’s a personal opinion, but seems to me that Italy, (part of, and the government especially), is falling back into a fascist state of mind, if not state.
The current inflammatory rhetoric, combined with violent acts by both individuals and councils, (presumably backed by the government, or at least not opposed by the government), reminds one of pogroms down the ages.
I do not intend to go into every recent report about victimisation of the Romas in Italy; but the latest finger printing of Romas indicates how far this has already gone. The excuse given by the Interior Minister, Maroni, (and supported by Berlusconi’s government), is that the move was needed to fight crime and identify illegal immigrants. Are the general population so dumb as to believe this? If, (and that is one hell of an “IF”), this is true, how come the population as a whole is not being finger-printed? Are the Roma people the only ones to commit crimes? Maroni did say Red Cross representatives would be present – no comment.
Yes, there is a long-standing of European distrust of “gypsies”, ( don’t equate the word gypsy with Roma), but moves like these have not been seen for a long time – like about 6-70 years? A poll, (size unknown), reports that 68% of Italians want the Roma deported – who cares many of them have Italian citizenship? Frightening isn’t it? Even more so given Italy is a member of the EU, and has a long rich history. I will not enlarge on which country or countries would produce a similar vote on such issues.
Want to do anything about it? If you live in the UK write to your Euro MP:-
http://www.writetothem.com/



Sign the petition on the everyone group page.
http://www.petitiononline.com/08041971/petition.html

To quote one British newspaper reporter “For anybody not swept up in the wave of anti-Roma fury, the campaign has a strong whiff of Mussolini and Hitler about it).
Before I go check this video out:-
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thumbnail.search.aolcdn.com/vsthumb7/tn/CF/52/CF52CB00CD9A7EB19FA361.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.truveo.com/EC-warns-on-Roma-fingerprinting/id/230894490&h=90&w=120&sz=3&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=idUlR5X8HUIlLM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droma%2Bfingerprinting%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7HPID

Not so long this time before I am back again

One final reminder of what happens when civilisation turns mad and a country’s citizen’s pretend nothing’s happening.
See ya